Package stiffener



Aug. 25; 1936.. L. G. CROSBY PACKAGE STIF'FENER Filed Nov. 25, 1934 Patented Aug. 25, 1936 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE 2,052,015 PACKAGE STIFFENER Loren G. Crosby, King County, near Kent, Wash.

Application November 23, 1934, Serial No. 754,449

4 Claims. (Cl. 206- 56) rettes from the package, as they are so closely packed that it is not easy to engage any single package, and Figure 4 is an elevation of the blank comprising such a stiffener, laid fiat.

A cigarette package is ordinarily wrapped in paper, and there may be one or several wrappings. This, however, is immaterial, so far as 5 the present invention is concerned, and the numeral I in Figure 1 represents the wrapper generally, which as seen in Figure 2 may consist of the outer wrapper iii and the inner wrapper ll.

one to withdraw it from the package. Some- Within such a wrapper are enclosed the ciga- 10 times the first cigarette is started by inverting rettes 2, 2t, 2!, etc. the package and tapping the bottom. It may To provide a stiffener which will hold the be started in the ordinary package by pushing package in shap I employ a Piece Of P p up the bottom with a finger beneath the opened board or like stiff material, indicated by the nucover. It is one of the objects of my invention meral 3, which is of a width to fill the space 15 to provide a stiffening means, yet one of such within the package between the front and back character that either method of starting the first faces, and which preferably is of a length corcigarette may still be employed without difficulty. responding to the width of the bottom edge,

, It is desirable to hold the package in shape, This is inserted in the bottom of the package,

so that the cigarettes will not become bent or and while it is immaterial whether it be placed 20 broken or crushed too greatly, hence the reason immediately beneath the cigarettes or between for a stiffener, yet after a number of cigarettes inner and outer wr pp H and even have been withdrawn from the package it is deoutside of the two wrappers, I have shown it as sirable that the portion of the package adjacent incorporated between the two wrappers.

to the torn-off corner shall be permitted to 001- When an end of the top of the package, for 25 lapse to prevent the cigarettes from falling out example the portion l2 in Figure 1, is torn off, of the package while it is carried in the pocket, as is customary in removing the cigarettes from and thus it is a further object of my invention such a package, it is difficult to grasp the first to provide a stiffener, and preferably one which cigarette or to withdraw it from the package.

will facilitate the projection of the first cigarette, To permit a cigarette to be started by pressing 30 yet one which will not prevent the corner from upward on the bottom of the package, as may folding together or collapsing somewhat to asbe done in the conventional packa y stiffener sist in holding the cigarettes in place after a is provided with an aperture 32 adjacent one number have been withdrawn. end, that is, adjacent one of the ends of the 35 It is a further object to provide a stiffener of bottom of the package. This aperture is of a 35 this general character which shall be simple and size to permit insertion of a finger F, as seen inexpensive, and which can be readily incorpoin Figure 2, deforming the bottom portion of rated in such a package. the wrappers and pressing upward a cigarette 2,

My invention comprises the novel package, and or perhaps several cigarettes, as indicated at 2 the novel stiffener therefor, as will be more parand 2t. These cigarettes are projected above 40 ticularly pointed out in the accompanying drawthe top edge of the package into a position ing, in this specification, and in the claims terwhere they may be grasped to pull them from minating the same, wherein my invention will be the package. Two such apertures may be emdisclosed and defined in a form which at present ployed, one at each end of the stiffener 3, so

5 is preferred by me. that this operation may be performed whichever Figure 1 is a perspective view of such a pack end of the top edge is torn 01f. age, with the front broken away and the cigar- Preferably the stiffener is of a length in excess ettes omitted for clearer illustration. This illusof the width of the bottom edge of the package, trates the manner in which my stiffener is inand yet of a length which is less than the comcorporated in the package. bined length of the bottom and the two side 50 Figure '2 is an elevation, with parts broken edges. It is scored, as indicated at 30, to leave away, showing the manner in which my, invenhingedly connected extensions 3!, at least at one tion facilitates the removal of the first cigarette, end and preferably at each end, which exten- Figure 3 is a perspective view of the stiffener sions are of a length to extend only part way,

alone, in the position it would occupy within the preferably not over half way, up the side edge 55 of the package. These wings or extensions 3| serve to protect and stiffen the package along its side edges, as the main portion 3 stifiens the bottom edge, and thus the package is held substan tially in rectangular shape. At the same time, because the extensions 3| do not come close to the top edge of the package, the wrapper may collapse at the corner opening above the top of the extensions 3|, so that after a number of cigarettes have been withdrawn this collapsing of the wrapper will tend to hold the remaining cigarettes in place, yet the stiffener still serves to protect the cigarettes, grouped at the side of the package away from the opening, and to prevent their being crushed or broken.

I have shown apertures which lie between the side edges of the stiffener 3, but it will be evident that these apertures, and I use the term aperture to indicate generally all equivalent variations of those shown, might be otherwise formed, for example, as notches cut into one edge or the other, or into alternate edges, of the stiffener. The stiffener, particularly if the extensions 3| are provided, would still serve to hold the package in shape, and these notches, if they were of sufficient size for the projection of a finger therethrough, would assist in projecting the first cigarette.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A stiffener for cigarette packages which comprise a paper wrapper, which comprises a strip of still material of a width corresponding to the thickness of the package,an extension hingedly connected to an end of such strip, of corresponding width but of a length substantially less than the height of the package, said strip having an aperture at its juncture with the extension, of a size to permit entrance of a finger to press upward a cigarette or cigarettes disposed in the package above such aperture.

2. A stiffener for cigarette packages which comprise a paper wrapper, which consists of a strip of paper board or the like of a width corresponding to the thickness of the package, and of a length in excess of the width of the package, said strip being transversely scored for folding at points spaced by an amount corresponding to the width of the package, and said strip, inside of said scores, having two apertures, one adjacent to each score, and each of a size to permit entrance of a finger to press upward a cigarette or cigarettes disposed in the package above such aperture.

3. A stiffener for cigarette packages which comprise a paper wrapper, which consists of a strip of paper board or the like of a width corresponding to the thickness of the package, and of a length in excess of the width of the package, but of a length substantially less than the com bined lengths of the bottom and two sides of the package, said strip being transversely scored for folding at points spaced by an amount corresponding to the width of the package, and said strip, inside of said scores, having two apertures, one adjacent to each score, and each of a size to permit entrance of a finger to press upward a cigarette or cigarettes disposed in the package above such aperture.

4. A cigarette package comprising a plurality of cigarettes, a flexible wrapper closely embracing the cigarettes, a stiff insert of a width corresponding to the thickness of the package and of a length corresponding to the width of the package, disposed beneath the lower ends of the cigarettes, within the wrapper, an extension at each end of said insert extending immediately upward along the sides of the cigarettes, between such cigarettes and the wrapper, and said insert having two apertures, one adjacent each end and disposed wholly within the side edges of the insert, of a size to permit pressure of a cigarette upward by a finger pressing on the wrapper beneath such aperture.

LOREN G. CROSBY. 

